Rod Sisco

Talented Cat!!

2010-03-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

Brother Vs. Brother In NCAA Tourney Game

2010-03-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

The last time Maurice and Kris Joseph faced each other in a basketball game was 13 years ago. Maurice was 11 years old, Kris was eight, and the setting was a youth league game in Montreal.
Needless to say the stakes will be significantly higher when they face off on Friday night.
Older brother Maurice will lead the Vermont Catamounts, the America East champion and 16th seed in the NCAA basketball tournament’s West Region, into Buffalo to play his younger brother’s Syracuse Orange, the Big East regular-season champion and the No. 1 seed in the West.

A No. 16 seeded team has never beaten a No. 1 seeded team in NCAA tournament history. So although it would take an historic upset for Maurice to get the best of his little brother, the opportunity for the Josephs to face each other is still special.
“When I saw that we were playing Syracuse, it was pretty exciting,” Maurice, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who averages 14.1 points per game, told Yahoo! Sports on Monday.
“Getting the opportunity to play your brother in the NCAA tournament is a blessing and we are both looking forward to it.”
The brothers play different positions and have different strengths and weaknesses. Kris is a slasher who uses his athleticism to get to the basket. Maurice is a shooter who uses screens to get open looks.
“We are both really competitive,” Maurice said.
While both siblings are complimentary of each other’s game, Kris let it be known that Maurice should not try guarding him.
“He knows better. He will probably guard someone like Andy [Rautins],” Kris said. “I know his game so well that I can close my eyes and guard him… I wish we played [man-to-man] for a few possessions because I would guard him full-court.”
The younger Joseph is a key player for the Orange who could be under even more pressure if senior forward Arinze Onuaku doesn’t play on Friday. Onuaku injured his right quadriceps during the Big East tournament and is listed as day-to-day.
Kris was named the Big East’s Sixth Man of the Year after averaging 11.3 points per game and 5.4 rebounds. If Onuaku can’t play, Joseph would be expected to start.
The brothers keep in close contact and have already talked about their matchup and will continue to leading up to the game.
“We are going to talk a lot,” Kris said. “We will talk, text, tweet until we get to Buffalo.”
There’s more Canadian content in the game courtesy of Rautins, a Toronto native whose father Leo is the head coach of Canada’s national team and a former Syracuse star himself. The younger Rautins has overcome a knee injury to become the Orange’s second-leading scorer and top outside threat.
Outside of the on-court family reunion, the other underlying storyline for Friday’s meeting is what happened when the same two teams met in the first round of the 2005 tournament. The then 13-seeded Catamounts stunned the Orange 60-57 in overtime for the school’s first-ever tournament victory.
Maurice Joseph, who transferred to Vermont after two years at Michigan State, thinks his team is playing well enough to perhaps pull off another upset.
“We have been riding a wave of momentum going into the tournament so we feel comfortable going into the game. We are going to come out loose and ready to play with passion and see what happens.”
Neither Maurice nor Kris were part of those teams, but Kris spoke to former Syracuse star Gerry McNamara – now a graduate assistant coach with the Orange - about the game and plans to avenge the loss on his behalf.
“We spoke about it after practice. He still has a nasty taste in his mouth and I can understand why, but it is revenge time,” Kris said.
“I wasn’t around, but I could sense how angry Gerry was when he was telling me the story, so now it is payback time.”
The Josephs are still trying to figure out how to get as many family members from Montreal to Buffalo for the game. It remains to be seen who they will be cheering for, but Kris expects the Buffalo crowd to be squarely on Syracuse’s side. Many Orange supporters are expected to make the two-hour-plus drive to Buffalo.
“It is going to be orange out there. It is going to be to our advantage. We are used to playing in front of a large crowd and I think it will feel like a home game with all the orange we are going to see.”

‘Idol’ Winners: Not Just Fame but Big Bucks

2010-02-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES — It is doubtful that any of the remaining 24 contestants on “American Idol” hope that they will be playing the Teen Angel in a touring production of “Grease” in Milwaukee three years from now.

But that’s what Taylor Hicks, the 2006 American Idol winner, is doing. And it shows that winning the most popular talent competition in the country is no guarantee of superstardom.
Easing that potential pain are the substantial financial rewards promised to winners of “American Idol,” regardless of how many records they sell once the show ends. In the year since he stood under a confetti shower in the Nokia Theater here, Kris Allen, last year’s winner, has earned at least $650,000 from “American Idol,” according to contracts that last season’s contestants signed with the show’s producers during the competition.
That amount reflects the minimum a winner would earn. Including performance fees and merchandising royalties from the “American Idol” tour, as well as other opportunities, winners have never failed to earn less than $1 million in the year or so after the contest, people close to the show say.
It is not just the winner who cashes in; finalists who reach the Top 5 this season are likely to earn close to $100,000 from the show — and three to four times that if the “Idol” producers sign them to a record deal. The Top 12 contestants are guaranteed several thousand dollars for their efforts. And that is before accounting for the Top 10 finalists’ earnings for appearing in the summer’s “American Idol” tour.
These details emerged from copies of last year’s contracts filed in state court in Los Angeles under laws requiring court approval of entertainment-industry deals with minors.
Last season those laws applied to Allison Iraheta (who finished fourth) and Jasmine Murray (Top 13) and to three other contestants who reached the Top 36 but were eliminated in the semifinal round.
The winner and those finalists fortunate enough to secure a management contract with 19 Entertainment, a producer of “American Idol,” and a record deal, are likely to earn far more than they would if they were independent artists who found their own way to a recording deal.
“I’m shocked that they give them that much money,” said a longtime agent for recording artists who works at a major talent agency here. The agent spoke on the condition of anonymity because she had not seen the contract; portions of the deal were read to her by a reporter.
A respectable recording contract for a new artist today would include an advance of $100,000 to $150,000, the agent said, although she noted that the “Idol” contract potentially binds the artist to the show’s producers for up to seven years, roughly twice as long as a typical first contract.
Executives at 19 Entertainment declined to comment on the contracts. In a statement the company said: “Our business is built through strong, respectful relationships with our talent, so it is important that they are fairly represented in contractual agreements with 19 Entertainment. With ‘American Idol,’ we have deliberately structured these agreements to ensure that artists can cross the threshold of success, and that they have all the support necessary to achieve their dreams.”
Mr. Allen, last year’s winner, earned an advance of $350,000 for his first album, exclusive of recording costs, half of it paid soon after the competition ended and half when he finished recording. His self-titled first album sold 80,000 copies in its first week of release last fall — disappointing for an “Idol” winner — and 260,000 in its first three months, according to Mr. Allen’s Web site, krisallenofficial.com.
An Idol winner’s riches extend beyond the recording contract. Last year the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida opened “The American Idol Experience,” an interactive attraction.
To promote it, Disney paid Mr. Allen $100,000 to turn to a camera and shout, “I’m going to Disney World” after winning the competition and to visit the park, according to the contracts. He stood to earn another $100,000 for spending a day filming scripted dialogue segments for use in the attraction and for taping a vocal performance for the Walt Disney World Christmas Parade television show.
But wait — there’s more. Also according to the contracts, as the winner Mr. Allen has received a $100,000 advance on royalties from a three-year merchandising contract, which gives 19 Entertainment the right to use his image to promote goods and services.
Those $650,000 in earnings do not come without strings, of course, strings that bind “Idol” contestants to 19 Entertainment for years. The company can sign a management contract with any contestant it chooses, binding the contestant to pay 15 percent of his earnings, not including those from recording and merchandising contracts, to 19 Entertainment-related companies as a manager’s fee. The initial contract extends for three years, although 19 continues to collect a percentage of some of the contestant’s earnings for 10 years.
The winner is not the only contestant who earns after the show. Last year the runner-up — Adam Lambert, whose first-week album sales were more than double those of Mr. Allen — earned $300,000 in advance royalties for his album, a $75,000 merchandising contract and $50,000 in fees from Disney World for the Idol Experience attraction.
The remaining Top 5 finalists each received $50,000 from Disney for their participation, while the rest of the Top 12 finalists could have earned $200,000 each for a first album and $50,000 from merchandising if 19 Entertainment had exercised its option to sign them to a contract.
Contestants do not have to make it to the Top 5 to begin making money. Once they reach the Top 12, “American Idol” singers each week record a version of their song for sale on iTunes. Once they begin recording, they receive a one-time payment of $1,000 and a $1,000 advance on royalties for each recording.
When they make it to the Top 12, contestants also usually perform in a group number during each week’s results show. Because that performance is not part of the competition, the contestants earn performance fees under the union contract that broadcasters have with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, known as Aftra.
That contract pays the artists from $1,011 for a one-hour show to $1,540 for a two-hour episode, meaning that a Top 5 contestant is likely to earn close to $10,000 in performance fees over the season: not a fortune, but with 20 million people viewing each week, it is a start.

What Are The Longest-Lasting Batteries?????

2010-02-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

Store brands may save you money on household necessities, but generic batteries might not be your best bet, according to recent tests comparing name brand and store brand batteries.
Getty Images
CVS AA Long Lasting alkaline batteries didn't actually last longer than other batteries tested under the same conditions by Consumer Reports. In fact, those generics had less than half the power as Panasonic Evolta alkaline batteries, Consumer Reports found.
Among the longest-lasting AA batteries overall were Energizer's Ultimate single-use lithium batteries, which took 678 pictures before dying, compared with 92 shots taken with a camera using the CVS batteries. As a group, lithium batteries lasted the longest, but budget-friendly rechargeable batteries performed nearly as well, Consumer Reports said.

And rechargeables like those made by Energizer and Duracell could be your best bet for use in digital cameras and favorite toys, Consumer Reports suggests.
For remote controls, flashlights and other devices, alkaline batteries might be your best bet since their charge could last you several years, while rechargeable ones can lose their charge over time, as MainStreet previously reported.
Consumers may not want to rule out store-brand batteries completely, however. Kirkland Signature AA batteries, sold at Costco only in packs of 48, lasted nearly as long as the Panasonic batteries, according to Consumer Reports.

Ugliest Missed Free Throw Ever!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

Funnel Cloud Over Hunstville Would Eventually Touchdown Around 5:30 Thursday Afternoon 1/21/10

2010-01-21T16:39:00.000-08:00

Tide players pass on travel cash in the name of solidarity...

2009-12-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

For the sake of maintaining their pure competitive spirits, NCAA athletes who help generate tens of millions of dollars for their schools have almost no sanctioned opportunities to come under the corrupting influence of money themselves. One of the rare exceptions is bowl travel stipends: Most teams headed to a postseason game break for a few days, then reconvene at the bowl site for final practices and pre-game festivities. Subsequently, the NCAA offers a set dollar amount for players who travel individually, and they're allowed to pocket the difference between that number and the actual cost of the trip. This is standard procedure everywhere, including Alabama during the Tide's short trips to Louisiana for the Independence and Sugar bowls the last two seasons.

This time around, though, 'Bama captains weighed the break and the cash against the cost of splitting up the team and burdening players with the logistics of connecting flights, delays and other holiday travel hang-ups in the middle of preparations for the BCS Championship game on Jan. 7, and decided they'd rather stick together than get paid:

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban left the decision on travel this time to his captains -- linebacker Rolando McClain, left guard Mike Johnson and cornerback Javier Arenas -- and the entire team. Encouraged by those captains, a UA official said, the Crimson Tide unanimously voted to forego the stipend and travel as a team Jan. 1 to the Los Angeles area.
The decision made things earlier on the team in many ways, since practices can continue in Tuscaloosa after Christmas break and the Crimson Tide can also avoid the type of delays that can come with traveling individually across the country.

Naturally, Alabama partisans are proudly applauding their boys' selflessness, leadership and sacrifice for the greater good of the Tide cause . And if the NCAA accepts 'Bama's appeal to restore the travel money, anyway, it's a smashing victory for team unity all the way around. (Even if it probably amounts to zip on the field.)

East Coast Blizzard Seen From Space

2009-12-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

The snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast this weekend was so big, it is even impressive from space. NASA’s Aqua satellite took this image centered on Washington, D.C., on Sunday with its MODIS instrument.

The blizzard shut down the federal government, stranded travelers, left hundreds of thousands without power and crushed the hopes of many retailers hoping for big sales during the weekend before Christmas.

The image covers 300 miles lengthwise. The two big rivers near the center are the Susquehanna (to the north) and Potomac rivers, which run into Chesapeake Bay. Washington, D.C., sits alongside the Potomac, just north of the river’s hook-shaped curve. The inlet to the north is Delaware Bay.

Team That Lost 100-0 Finally Gets Win!

2009-12-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

The Dallas Academy girls basketball team won the respect - and sympathy - of millions after they lost a game 100-0 with class and dignity last winter.
It then won spots on morning and evening talk shows - and special invitations from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Last week, it finally won what it really wanted: A game.
document.write Dallas Academy, a small private school, was big news last winter
Lost in the debacle of the 100-0 defeat - a game thatwould cost the opposing coach his job because of sportsmanship issues - was the fact that Dallas Academy hadn't won a game since the 2001-2002 season.
No one is sure how many games were in the streak. But the team certainly understood the significance when it defeated Johnson County, 34-33, last weekend.
"We had just been waiting to win one game," senior Teodora Palacios told A Texas newspaper"We broke it."
Not that anyone saw it coming.
The game began like so many others, with Dallas Academy falling behind 9-0. Then the team found its game. It was trailing by only seven with seconds left in the half when it got its biggest basket of the game: Lauren Oelke threw in a half-court shot at the buzzer.
"When I made the half-court shot," she told the paper, "I lit up."
The team was competitive in the second half. In the final minute, it found itself in a most unusual position: Tied, with Oelke going to the foul line.
Oelke, the team's best player, scored 31 of the team's 34 points. None, however, were bigger than the foul shot she made to give her team a lead.
It was just a matter of holding on. Dallas Academy got a defensive stop then managed to run out the clock.
"That was the best minute they ever played," head coach Deanna Civello told the paper.
It has never really been about wins and losses at Dallas Academy, a school that's renown for its work with students with learning issues such as dyslexia.
In fact, after the 100-0 loss, the school dropped out of league play in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
But while learning life's lessons are nice, let's not forget - these kids are competitive. They want to win.
After doing so last week, the girls celebrated as if they had won a state championship.
For this program, it may as well have been.

2009-12-21T13:08:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration took aim Monday at tarmac horror stories, ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes get off the plane after three hours. With its new regulations, the Transportation Department sent an unequivocal message on the eve of the busy holiday travel season: Don't hold travelers hostage to delayed flights.
The Air Transport Association, a trade group that represents U.S. airlines, said in a statement that carriers would comply with the new rule even though the group contends it will lead to canceled flights and greater passenger inconvenience.
Under the new regulations, airlines operating domestic flights will be able only to keep passengers on board for three hours before they must be allowed to disembark a delayed flight. The regulation provides exceptions only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations.
U.S. carriers operating international flights departing from or arriving in the United States must specify, in advance, their own time limits for deplaning passengers. Foreign carriers are not covered by the rules.
Airlines will be required to provide food and water for passengers within two hours of a plane being delayed on a tarmac, and to maintain operable lavatories. They must also provide passengers with medical attention when necessary.
From January to June this year, 613 planes were delayed on tarmacs for more than three hours, their passengers kept on board.
Airlines will also be prohibited from scheduling chronically delayed flights. Carriers who fail to comply could face government enforcement action for using unfair or deceptive trade practices.
The new regulations, which were published Monday in the Federal Register, go into effect in 120 days.
"Airline passengers have rights, and these new rules will require airlines to live up to their obligation to treat their customers fairly," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
Under the new regulations, airlines would be fined $27,500 per passenger for each violation of the three-hour limit, LaHood said.
LaHood called the new regulations the Obama administration's "passenger bill of rights."
Legislation pending in the Senate would also have imposed a three-hour limit, but the new regulations go even farther, giving passenger rights advocates nearly everything they've been asking for.
Airlines have strongly opposed a hard time limit on tarmac strandings. They say forcing planes to return to gates so that passengers can get off could cause more problems than it cures. They predict more flights will be canceled, further delaying passengers from reaching their destinations.
Last month, the department fined Continental Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines and Mesaba Airlines $175,000 for their roles in a nearly six-hour tarmac delay in Rochester, Minn. On Aug. 8, Continental Express Flight 2816 en route to Minneapolis was diverted to Rochester due to thunderstorms. Forty-seven passengers were kept overnight in a cramped plane amid crying babies and a smelly toilet because Mesaba employees refused to open a gate so that they could enter the closed airport terminal.
The case marked the first time the department had fined an airline for actions involving a tarmac delay. Transportation officials made clear the case was a warning to the industry.
Consumer advocates have been pressing the department and Congress for at least a decade to do something extended tarmac delays. However, past efforts to address the problem have fizzled in the face of industry opposition and promises to reform.
Congress and the Clinton administration tried act after a January 1999 blizzard kept Northwest Airlines planes on the ground in Detroit, trapping passengers for seven hours. Some new regulations were put in place but most proposals died, including one that airlines pay passengers who are kept waiting on a runway for more than two hours.
The Bush administration and Congress returned to the issue three years ago after several high-profile strandings.
In December 2006, lightning storms and a tornado warning shut the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, causing American Airlines to divert more than 100 flights and stranding passengers on some planes for as long as nine hours.
Two months later, snow and ice led JetBlue Airways to leave planes full of passengers sitting on the tarmac at New York's Kennedy International Airport for nearly 11 hours.
After those incidents, DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel recommended that airlines be required to set a limit on the time passengers have to wait out travel delays grounded inside an airplane.
Mary Peters, who was transportation secretary under former President George W. Bush, proposed requiring airlines to have contingency plans for stranded passengers. The idea was that if airlines include these plans in their "contract of carriage" -- the fine print on an airline ticket -- consumers can hold them responsible in court if they break their promise.
An industry-dominated panel set up by the government debated the matter for 11 months, then issued a report in November 2008 that offered only guidelines for what a model plan should look like.
Neither those guidelines nor Peters' proposed rule contained a specific limit on how long passengers can be kept waiting before being allowed to return to a gate. They were denounced as toothless by consumer advocates.
LaHood has rewritten Peters' proposal, added a firm time-limit and other protections, and made the proposal a final rule.

ALA - Freakin' Bama

2009-12-17T12:23:00.000-08:00

Tace Adkins' latest Ala-Freakin' Bama will play this afternoon at 3:08, 5:00 and at 6:50.

Tune in to hear the hottest song going! Happy Holidays from all of us here at WQSB!!!

Rod Sisco

Alabama's Mark Ingram Wins Heisman!!!

2009-12-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

Alabama running back Mark Ingram holds the Heisman Trophy as he poses for a photo during a press conference after winning the Heisman Trophy award on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009, in New York.

Puppy That Can Whistle????

2009-12-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Wonder what the coach had to say to this lineman?

2009-12-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Demi Moore's W Cover: Worst Photoshop Ever?

2009-11-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows by now that magazines extensively airbrush the stars on their covers, and usually the celebs appreciate a little touchup and wouldn't want it any other way. But imagine Demi Moore, 47, getting her first look at the latest (December) cover of W and finding that a huge chunk of her hip has been digitally removed? That's what the folks at Boing Boing called attention to yesterday. The mistake hardly needs to be pointed out. If you look at Moore's left hip (our right), it seems that what used to be flesh is now a great deal of white space. But, don't worry, Mrs. Kutcher's thigh still seems normal, though now it appears to bulge out below her sarong.
Magazine covers go through an exhaustive process of approvals, so it's puzzling that this one made it to press with a mistake so obvious it's visible a few yards from the newsstand.
Check out the close-up view.

2009-11-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

Palin angered by 'sexist' Newsweek cover....

Originally published in the August 2009 issue of Runners World, the photo features the former Alaska governor in short runner's shorts. It was part of a multi-photograph slideshow that accompanied an article about Palin and her love for the sport titled, "I'm A Runner." In her Facebook post late last night, Palin took issue with Newsweek using a photo from an article about health and fitness to promote an analysis piece contemplating her relevance as a political figure:
"The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this "news" magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner's World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness -- a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention -- even if out of context.

Pumpkin Jam Sardis, Al. 10/3/09

2009-10-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

2009-10-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

McElroy to Maze!!

2009-09-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Million Dollar Hole-In-One!!!

2009-09-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmmmm...

2009-09-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

The $150 Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget

2009-09-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

The $150 Space Camera.

Bespoke is old hat. Off-the-shelf is in. Even Google runs the world’s biggest and scariest server farms on computers home-made from commodity parts. DIY is cheaper and often better, as Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh found out when they decided to send a camera into space.

The two students (from MIT, of course) put together a low-budget rig to fly a camera high enough to photograph the curvature of the Earth. Instead of rockets, boosters and expensive control systems, they filled a weather balloon with helium and hung a styrofoam beer cooler underneath to carry a cheap Canon A470 compact camera. Instant hand warmers kept things from freezing up and made sure the batteries stayed warm enough to work.

Of course, all this would be pointless if the guys couldn’t find the rig when it landed, so they dropped a prepaid GPS-equipped cellphone inside the box for tracking. Total cost, including duct tape? $148.

Launch

Two weeks ago, on September 2nd 2009, at the leisurely post-breakfast hour of 11:45AM, the balloon was launched from Sturbridge MA. Lee and Yeh took a road trip in order to stop prevailing winds from taking the balloon out onto the Atlantic, and checked in on the University of Wisconsin’s balloon trajectory website to estimate the landing site.

Because of spotty cellphone coverage in west Massachusetts, it was important to keep the rig in the center of the state so it could be found upon landing. Light winds meant the guys got lucky and, although the cellphone’s external antenna was buried upon landing, the fix they got as the balloon was coming down was close enough.

The Photographs

The balloon and camera made it up high enough to see the black sky curling around our blue planet. The Canon was hacked with the CHDK (Canon Hacker’s Development Kit) open-source firmware, which adds many features to Canon’s cameras. The intervalometer (interval timer) was set to shoot a picture every five seconds, and the 8GB memory card was enough to hold pictures for the five-hour duration of the flight.

The picture you see above was shot from around 93,000 feet, just shy of 18 miles high. To give you an idea of how high that is, when the balloon burst, the beer-cooler took forty minutes to come back to Earth.

What is most astonishing about this launch, named Project Icarus, is that anyone could do it. The budget is so small as to be almost non-existent (the guys slept in their car the night before the launch to save money), so that even if everything went wrong, a second, third or fourth attempt would be easy. All it took was a grand idea and an afternoon poking around the hardware store.

The project website has few details on how the balloon was put together — but the students say they will be selling step-by-step instructions for $150 soon. That means you will soon be able to launch your own balloon for just $300 — $150 for the instructions and $150 for the parts.

The View - Taylor Swift on Kanye

2009-09-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

2009-09-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

Why you should never drive into areas where water covers the road!!!

A Los Angeles firemen examine a fire truck stuck in a
sinkhole in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. Four firefighters escaped injury
early Tuesday after their fire engine sunk into a large hole
caused by a burst water main in the San Fernando Valley.

2009-09-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

WHAT COULD BE MORE ANNOYING THAN THIS? MAYBE IF IT WAS BOLD? AND RED?

OK, I can't actually make that text red due to the publishing system I'm on, but it would certainly be annoying, wouldn't it?
And if you worked for New Zealand's ProCare Health, it could even get you fired.
That's exactly what happened to Vicki Walker, who was abruptly kicked out of her job for sending "confrontational emails" with text formatted in a variety of red, bold, and all caps fonts. Walker had sent the emails to fellow workers within the company, usually with stern and detailed instructions on how forms should be properly filled out.
Someone at ProCare didn't like her approach, suggesting she caused "disharmony in the workplace" and was being too confrontational via email, eventually firing her without warning.
Walker, however, got the last laugh. She sued for wrongful termination and won the case, pocketing $17,000 in lost wages and for other unspecified harm caused due to the firing.
Quite a predicament. Is it actually possible to be confrontational in an email message? With instructions on how to fill out a form? By all accounts, Walker's emails sound rude and brusque, but did she cross a line? Just how angry would an email have to be in order to merit being fired from her job? I know I've sent a "confrontational" message or two to my co-workers in the past, and I've received more than my fair share of them, I think. I never recall anyone getting fired for it.

2009-09-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Saban releases statement on Deaderick shooting.

Brandon Deaderick was shot at about 10:15 Monday night in Tuscaloosa.

TUSCALOOSA University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban released a statement this morning about Brandon Deaderick, who was hospitalized for gunshot wounds Monday night.

"We feel very fortunate that Brandon is doing well and that this is not a more serious situation," Saban said. "We are hopeful that his condition will continue to improve as we expect him to be released from the hospital later in the day today.
"Our concern at this time is for Brandon's continued recovery as our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, not about when he will return to football."
Deaderick remained hospitalized this morning, but hospital officials expect him to be released sometime today.
But law enforcement agents are still seeking help finding the robber who shot Deaderick in a Rice Mine Road apartment complex late Monday night, a shot that pierced his forearm and ricocheted into his hip.
He was taken by ambulance to DCH Regional Medical Center, where he remained this morning in good condition, said hospital spokesman Brad Fisher.
Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson is asking anyone with information to contact the Tuscaloosa Police Department, Crime Stoppers or the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit.
“[The suspect] is still a big question mark,” Anderson said.
The chief did say he wanted to put to rest a rumor that was circulating earlier this morning.
The notion that detectives are skeptical of Deaderick’s story is not true, Anderson said.
“We have no reason not to believe that what happened is the absolute truth,” he said, adding that he spoke with Deaderick briefly at the hospital following the shooting and had no reason to doubt Deaderick’s story.
Deaderick told police that he and a female companion arrived in the parking lot of Rivermont Apartments about 10 p.m. when he was approached by a man wearing dark clothes, a dark ball cap and a blue bandanna over his face.
He did not know the robber, who pointed a gun and said “Give it up,” authorities have said.
When he refused, the assailant fired the gun, sending the bullet into his arm and hip.
Police searched for the shooter in the Rice Mine Road area into the night, and located one man near Cypress Inn restaurant just before midnight.
Anderson said that suspect was taken into custody on outstanding warrants from the Tuscaloosa Police Department and Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, but that he was not connected to the Deaderick shooting.
“He was just an individual who happened to be in the area,” Anderson said.
Deaderick, a 6-foot-4, 306-pound defensive end from Elizabethtown, Ky., started all 14 games last season as a junior and was Alabama’s top returning pass rusher. He made 36 total tackles last season and was second on the team with four quarterback sacks and tied for the lead in quarterback hurries with seven. He won the team’s Up-Front Award as the outstanding lineman on defense.
As a sophomore, Deaderick played in all 13 games with seven starts.

2009-08-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hurricane stronger, heads for Mexico's Los Cabos

LOS CABOS, Mexico – Extremely dangerous and strengthening Hurricane Jimena roared toward Mexico's resort-studded Baja California Peninsula on Monday, prompting emergency workers to set up makeshift shelters and chasing away an international finance conference.
Jimena, just short of Category 5 status, could rake the harsh desert region fringed with picturesque beaches and fishing villages by Tuesday evening, forecasters said.
At least 10,000 families will be evacuated from potential flood zones, said Francisco Cota, the local director of Civil Protection. He said 60 shelters would be set up.
A spokesman for the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information said it decided Monday to move the conference — including more than 170 representatives from 54 countries — to Mexico City, even though some delegates had already arrived in Los Cabos.
"The meeting has been planned for two months and the meteorological conditions, by their very nature, are unpredictable," said conference spokesman Anthony Gooch.
Los Cabos Mayor Oscar Nunez said people in poorly constructed homes face "a huge potential risk" right now and they may be forced to evacuate.
Brenda Munoz, who lost her home to a 2001 hurricane, was taking no chances and stocking up on food this time.
"I remember when Hurricane Juliette hit with a lot of intensity. It flattened our home, lots of flooding, lots of disaster," Munoz said in Cabo San Lucas. "We're already prepared with food and everything so it won't catch us off guard."
As rain started falling Monday morning, Mitch Williams of Orange County, California, waited at the airport to fly home from his vacation.
"I know that it's getting closer. ... The hurricane can do a lot of damage if it hits at that strength," he said.
Williams said poorer residents who live in shacks in this vacation town are not well prepared. "It will wipe them out," he said.
His advice for tourists was simple: "Get out."
But on Cabo's famous beaches, some tourists were doing just the opposite, getting into the Pacific to play in the hurricane's big waves.
Although city officials shut down the port, lifeguard Roman Dominguez with the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department said there's no feasible way to close a beach.
"We struggle a lot with surfers," he said. "They're looking for waves."
Lifeguards perched in a tower looked on Monday as two women, one with her boogie board, another on a surf board, paddled into pounding surf under cloudy skies.
Farther south, Jimena kicked up surf along Mexico's mainland western coast and generated strong winds that bent and uprooted trees in the resort town of Zihuatanejo.
By midday Monday, Jimena was a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph (240 kph) and was moving northwest near 8 mph (13 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
It was centered about 340 miles (545 kilometers) south of Cabo San Lucas.
Hurricanes reach Category 5 — the top danger rating for a hurricane — at 156 mph (250 kph).
Ironically, the entire peninsula is grappling with a severe drought.
Martin Rozendaal who moved to Los Cabos in 1992 to run the Hotel Club Cabo, said residents have a "love-hate relationship" with harsh storms that flood the region almost every summer.
"We need a lot of rain but we don't need the destruction," he said.
Authorities in Cabo Corrientes were setting up shelters in case of heavier winds and rain, said Arturo Garcia, an official with Jalisco's Civil Protection agency.
The U.S. hurricane center issued a public advisory for residents in western Mexico and the southern part of the Baja peninsula to keep tabs on Jimena.
Farther out in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Kevin weakened to a tropical depression with top winds of 35 mph (55 kph). It was centered 880 miles (1,415 kilometers) west-southwest of the Baja peninsula's southern tip.

2009-08-26T16:49:00.000-07:00

No flashy headline needed for this - Just look at the pictures.

This car was pulled over by the Boaz PD.......

2009-08-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

OMG!!!!!!! Simon said what???????????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6hrdh6_I0g

This weekend The X Factor--the British version of American Idol, basically, and the show that spawned Leona Lewis--premiered in the U.K., switching to the even more dramatic live-audition format of Simon Cowell's other big across-the-pond reality hit, Britain's Got Talent. And auditioning Saturday night, non-coincidentally in the all-important "pimp slot," was hunky and likable schoolteacher Danyl Johnson. And this teacher gave an A+ performance, for sure.
How good was Danyl? Well, he managed to accomplish the unthinkable: Danyl not only made Simon Cowell smile, but he inspired Simon to give him a standing ovation...AND Simon even declared Danyl's audition (of the Joe Cocker version of "With A Little Help From My Friends") "the single best first audition I have ever heard."

2009-08-24T12:57:00.001-07:00

The Story Behind "Joey"....

Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles talked to us about the song she and Kristian Bush wrote with the legendary Bill Anderson.'Joey' is a teen tragedy song. It's important to set the stage in the first few lines -- sort of when the curtain rises, it's what we see in the first scene. So the idea of, 'What if I had said yes? What if I had gone out that night? What if you had turned left, and everything would've turned out alright?' And then we just went from that into, 'Oh my God, this is a car accident, and this is someone who is lamenting the loss of this boyfriend.' When we were about halfway through it, Bill said, 'This is like the teen tragedy songs of the 50s and 60s.' It's like 'Last Kiss,' which even Pearl Jam did a cover of recently. Several of those songs came about around that time.So from a music historian perspective, when you tie it with Bill Anderson, I think there is a beautiful irony that's in the influences that he might have had as a writer and then consequently that spilled into this song that's on a record in 2008. That's one of the things that is so wonderful about Bill -- he can remain totally himself, and yet keep himself completely relevant by being open to changing musically or appreciating music on a broader level. He doesn't box himself regardless of his tradition and how long he has been in this industry. It was pretty special to write with him.

2009-08-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

"Red Light" is not the "feel good" song of the year - just a great song!!

The debut single from David Nail ,"Red Light", is a great song! It grabbed my attention the first time I played it. The more I listened the more I liked it! The song is well written, very well written.... It's a snapshot of 3 minutes of a sunny Sunday, sitting at a red light and all that can happen before the light changes to green. Click the link below to watch "Red Light" now..

http://www.cmt.com/videos/david-nail/410330/red-light.jhtml

David Nail grew up in a small town in Missouri, the son of a former high school band director whose musical collection included Stevie Wonder, Elton John and the Beatles. Nail turned to country in the 1990s, then started going back into its history and became a big fan of Glen Campbell. He moved to Nashville right after high school but returned to Missouri after a year. Two years later, he gave Nashville another try. He completed an album for Mercury Records, but it was not released. After taking a break from the music business to help coach a baseball team, he was introduced to music publisher and producer Frank Liddell. Their musical partnership led Nail to sign another record deal with MCA Nashville. His MCA album, I'm About to Come Alive, is in stores now!

To find out more about David goto http://www.davidnail.com/

2009-08-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! WQSB welcomes Gallagher to Wallace Hall @ Gadsden State Saturday night at 7:30!
Tickets are available at the WQSB Studios or by calling 1-877-548-3237. For more info call Gadsden State @ 256-549-8325 or 256-549-8329. Cant's wait to see you there!!!

Check out the Gallagher video by clinking on the link below!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWN9rTc08GU